Cat cracked my windshield and roof glass

[James7]

A local cat likes to climb under and on my model 3, often to get a better view of nesting birds (or just when the car is warm after use). It sometimes gets its claws in the gap between the glass and the bodywork when climbing up or down from the car.

Last year it cracked the roof glass, and just to prove it wasn’t a fluke it has now done the same to the windshield. I definitely know it’s a cat because I caught it on camera and there are paw prints next to the damage.

Obviously this is becoming expensive. I presume I need to install a rubber seal in the gap, although I read some negative reviews of these and I think some were a little oversized and thus difficult to install or maybe put extra stress on the glass?

It would be interesting to know if they’ve eliminated this gap on the new model 3.

I’d appreciate any ideas or tips. I suppose I could wax the car to make it slippery, but I’m disabled and so just cleaning it is enough of a task and I’d like a permanent solution. Thanks.

 

[Adam3]

Motion detection sprinkler? Car cover? This is most cats...

 

[James7]

I already bought a solar powered animal scarer after the first incident. This discourages the cat from climbing onto the car via the front but it just climbs on via the rear now. I even blocked off its favourite points for jumping onto the car with planters, but of course it just finds an alternative eventually.

It is just obsessed with the car basically so I really need to protect the vulnerable part of the glass I think and it really seems like a design flaw (the cat isn’t even big or heavy).

A cover isn’t really an option due to my disability. For example, I can’t drive a manual car nowadays due to the extra strain on my arms and just the extra effort overall.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

By "cat" I assume you mean a full-grown African lion? There's no way that a smaller cat like a Cheetah or mountain lion would be cracking your windshield unless your car started the fight. Where are you parking that this continues to happen? And are you sure it's not just a playful Rhinoceros or something?

 

[shahryaran]

Let's see the video

 

[hey kupo]

My cat is all over my car all the time. Now I'm nervous

 

[cbdream99]

Put the Tesla in dog mode

 

[James7]

Let's see the video

unnamed

Watch "unnamed" on Streamable.

streamable.com

When the cat slides down the glass there isn’t the slightest scratch. The damage occurs at the end of the video when it gets its claw into the gap and I guess hits the glass from the side in between the layers. There are three sounds at the end of the video, the last two are the cat jumping down and hitting the mirror and car, but the first is the glass cracking

 

[RayK]

Might have been some cat like this:

I think the OP is pulling our (virtual) legs. Video, or it didn't happen.

edit: Or maybe the OP is talking about a cat like this:

 

[James7]

Might have been some cat like this:
View attachment 1016554

I think the OP is pulling our (virtual) legs. Video, or it didn't happen.

edit: Or maybe the OP is talking about a cat like this:

I have already posted the video of it breaking the roof glass. However, the post is still awaiting moderator approval (presumably due to containing a video link).

 

[85vett]

If you can identify the owner, and it was indeed the cat that broke the glass. Send them the bill.

I still don't understand how a cat is breaking the glass. Saving further feedback on that till seeing the video.

 

[James7]

If you can identify the owner, and it was indeed the cat that broke the glass. Send them the bill.

I still don't understand how a cat is breaking the glass. Saving further feedback on that till seeing the video.

Here’s the damage to the windscreen. It only seems to have cracked the top layer of the glass

 

[derekmw]

I don't think a cat is doing this. There's no way they have the weight or strength to do that to glass. I have parked my Model 3's in our garage for the past 5 years and our cats are always jumping on to and off the car. Even jumping onto the roof glass from cabinets above, and I've never had a single scratch on the glass. The only problem I get is the body paint when the slide off the car - but the doesn't take much to scratch Tesla paint.

 

[James7]

I don't think a cat is doing this. There's no way they have the weight or strength to do that to glass. I have parked my Model 3's in our garage for the past 5 years and our cats are always jumping on to and off the car. Even jumping onto the roof glass from cabinets above, and I've never had a single scratch on the glass. The only problem I get is the body paint when the slide off the car - but the doesn't take much to scratch Tesla paint.

I literally have it on video. Here’s the url (change the stars into “t”)

h**ps://streamable.com/5wouzm

 

[MP3Mike]

I literally have it on video. Here’s the url (change the stars into “t”)

h**ps://streamable.com/5wouzm

I see a cat crawling all over the vehicle, but I can't see any crack show up on the windshield. But I find it highly unlikely that any of that would cause a crack to form.

 

[Adam3]

 

[CyberGus]

Glass is very strong, but the edges are vulnerable. Automotive glass is layered, so if a sharp claw bit into the soft middle layer, it might be able to "chip" the edge of the top layer and start a crack... ?

 

[Spalding]

Are we sure this accusation isn't being made by the dog?

 

[James7]

I see a cat crawling all over the vehicle, but I can't see any crack show up on the windshield. But I find it highly unlikely that any of that would cause a crack to form.

That’s the first incident where it cracked the roof glass.

Furthermore, the cracks only show from certain angles anyway, so you probably still wouldn’t see it.

 

[RayK]

I literally have it on video. Here’s the url (change the stars into “t”)

h**ps://streamable.com/5wouzm

• That cat couldn't have weighed more than 6 kilos. I've got a couple of 12 pounders myself and although they are indoors-only, I don't think that they could damage automotive glass
• I've had some neighborhood outdoor cats jump up on my car but the only evidence is their sometime muddy paw prints up the hood and over the windscreen. Have never had any glass damage; paint maybe but I'm not anal enough to fret over every single scratch my car gets.
• Photo you provided of the windscreen showing the damage is horizontal. The cat's movements were vertical. Furthermore, the photo appears to show the right A-pillar, the passenger side of a RHD vehicle, with a chip or dent at the very edge of the glass. The cat in the video did not approach the edge on that side.
• If you are asserting that the damage on the edge propagated a crack horizontally, then I'd say that it's more likely that something hit there and skidded or was dragged across the glass.

From the photo, the glass seems to be scuffed rather than cracked. At least that's my impression. Having had a couple of windscreens replaced on my vehicles over the years, all of the damage have been very sharp, thin lines. Or a divot when a rock hit it. I don't have any experience with the multi-layered glass that's now used with these new vehicles. Have you had the glass inspected by a repair company?